THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 5, 1995 TAG: 9508050020
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Issues of Faith
SOURCE: Betsy Wright
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
HUMANS ARE FUNNY when it comes to theology. Just because we believe something to be true now, we have a tendency to believe that's the way it's always been.
Take hell, for instance. Mention the word and immediately we think of horned red demons with pitchforks to poke their troubled charges. Condemned souls enduring unspeakable tortures. A swimming pool of fire and brimstone to heat up the nasty natives.
If you think that version of hell has been around since Adam and Eve, think again. The idea of a burning hell didn't emerge until just 200 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Other details didn't take form until long after his death.
Prior to 200 B.C., Jews believed in Sheol, a shadowy underworld that held all the dead. Then, just two centuries before Jesus' birth, the concept of Gehenna entered Jewish thinking. It was born out of a frustration that folks were getting away with sin in this lifetime. Named after a foul Jerusalem dump where garbage and dead animals were burned, Gehenna became what historian Alan Bernstein calls ``a cosmic disposal site for the wicked.''
Surprisingly, Gospel writers don't have Jesus elaborating much on the topic of hell. He vaguely refers to it as a ``lake of fire,'' an ``outer darkness'' and a place where people weep and gnash their teeth. The apostle Paul, whose letters make up most of the Christian Testament, barely mentions hell.
It took subsequent church thinkers and leaders, artists and writers to fill in the details about Hades. The more Christianity grew, the more complex and horrible grew hell. Conversely, the more people feared hell, the more Christianity grew.
Since the 18th century, theologians, clergy and laypersons have gradually let go of the idea of hell. With the exception of the Orthodox branch, Judaism has abandoned the concept altogether, believing that the idea of eternal punishment is inconsistent with God's mercy. Christians tamed the horrors of hell by saying the flames of the Bible are allegorical and that the true punishment is the soul's separation from God.
Today, hell is still debated. One of the most recent trends is ``annihilationism.'' In this theory, a just and loving God would not sentence a human to eternal punishment, but would simply torture the evildoer for a period of time and then destroy the soul altogether.
Over the course of many years, I have formed some strong personal beliefs about hell. Though I do believe hell is real, I do not believe it is a physical place. I do not believe Jesus was referring to a literal ``lake of fire'' any more than I believe he literally wants us to drink his blood and eat his flesh for Communion. Jesus Christ often used allegory to get his point across, and I believe his references to hell are examples of this teaching style.
If hell isn't a place, what is it? I believe hell is a state of being, one we must all endure either here or in the life beyond death. What is that state of being? It is a state of heightened self-awareness and introspection. In this state, the soul becomes keenly aware of its every word and deed. More importantly, the soul becomes keenly aware of how those words and deeds affect others.
If I, for instance, abuse my child, my hell would be the realization of what that abuse feels like to that child. I'm not necessarily talking about the actual physical pain of the abuse, but the more far-reaching emotions of fear, confusion and betrayal that the child endures.
I call this kind of realization ``getting it.''
When we ``get it'' in this life, it's called empathy. Having true empathy leads to repentance, which leads to redemption, which leads to salvation. Traditional Christians would say this kind of empathy can only come through personal knowledge of Jesus Christ, or in religious lingo, being ``born again.'' Other faiths believe it comes in other ways.
What happens if a soul doesn't ``get it'' in this life? I believe that after death, that soul must go through hell: It must actually experience the emotions of those it has hurt in life. This would also include experiencing God's own anguish and despair over a soul's denial of God.
Like the Rev. Leslie D. Weatherhead in ``The Christian Agnostic,'' I believe the fire of hell to be the burning anguish of remorse. Also like Weatherhead, I reject the idea that souls are condemned to hell for eternity.
``Hell may last,'' writes Weatherhead, ``as long as sinful humanity lasts, but that does not mean that any individual will remain in it all that time. The time of purging can only continue until purification is reached. And a God driven to employ an endless hell would be a God turned fiend himself, defeated in his original purpose.''
That ``original purpose'' is the soul's final reconciliation with God.
I know my beliefs aren't entirely traditional, but they are by no means unusual. Similar beliefs have been around for centuries. Hell, it seems, will always spark debate.
Let me hear your beliefs on this issue of faith. MEMO: Every other week, Betsy Mathews Wright publishes responses to her
opinion column. Send responses to Issues of Faith, The Virginian-Pilot,
150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510; call (804) 446-2273; FAX
(804) 436-2798; or send computer message via bmw(AT)infi.net. Deadline
is Tuesday prior to publication. Must include name, city and phone
number.
by CNB